[Garden] Tomato plants

[Birdlady]

We have several tomato plants in various large pots on the patio, Marglobe and Husky, (which have done VERY well in years past)...

This year the plants are tall and vigorous, many blossoms and no fruit.....I've seen bees and other insects buzzing around them......any ideas?

Also, we've been using cedarcide fine mulch in the pots to deter snails and slugs. Our pepper plants are just being eaten up! Grasshoppers getting them maybe?

Suggestions on control welcome! Remember, these are in pots.......from 3 gal to 10 gal......our jalapeno peppers in the ground are doing great! But we just don't have enough good ground dirt and sun to put *everything* in the ground.

The potted herbs are doing GREAT! (Thyme, oregano, basil, parsley, rosemary and mint).

The tomato plants don't seem to be affected by the chomping insects.

And we're in the Texas Gulf Coast area.......hot and wet (did I say humid and hot?)

Thanks, as always...

 

[housemouse]

so sorry, cause I am in zone 5, western NY. But if you want to commune on maters, GardenWeb forums on tomatoes is THE site for all mater info.

Here is what I know so far. Maters like it between 50 and 90 degrees. They prefer it not to be too "wet" when they are setting fruit. K is more important to them than N and P.

Even soil moisture they like, not too wet, not too dry. Calcium they need, in addition to just enough but not too much water in the soil.

I grownice maters here, and kinda know how for my climate, which varieties, yada. But, am not so smart on Texas maters.

Understand the plant, understand your soil and climate, then figure out how to make a best guess match. Learn by trial and error. Is how we all learn, right?

Pick the right variety for your region to start off with, and learn from that. Do not try to grow varieties not suited, and pay attention to those temps.

They will not set fruit when the thermometer goes over 90 degrees, no matter how much you pray. The pretty yellow blossoms will just drop off.

 

[Green Co.]

Hello, Birdlady..you said wet?? we had another two inches here last nite & this am. If our tomatoes weren't in tire planters, sitting on top of the ground, all would have drowned, this year.

I grow mostly Celebrity & Homestead, some Roma. Those seem to do well out here in the woods. Wife put up the first dozen jars of salsa today..love the stuff.

Anyways, I have found over the years, my plants do better, produce longer, with only about 8 hrs a day of our sun, as it creates it's suana like atmosphere. Seems the longer heat/sun caused less fruit. The only other time my plants did as yours, I had tilled in some rich manure. Seemed the extra nutrients made them want to bush out/ grow tall, with very little fruit.

Has the cedarcide worked? We tried it in the yard as a repellent, but were not impressed. Probably wasn't spread heavily enough. No 'hopper or japanese beetle problems this year...I think they all drowned, or were washed down to your area

Dennis2

 

[Deemy]

Has the leaves turned yellow? That is a sure sign of stress. Check under the leaves ,they might have mites or whitefly.Are you pinching off the extra limbs that grow?

 

[Birdlady]

Thanks folks for replies.....

Dennis2, We have grown Marglobes and Husky's with great results in the past...dunno what's up with them this year???.....

Yes, we are VERY wet.....and the bell and banana pepper plants are totally chewed up......by what I don't know, as I haven't caught anybody in the act yet.......sigh.

I used AgOrg P/L in the pots when I planted the seedlings......we used to listen to Garden Guru, Ben Oldag on Say/Sun morning, but the station's boss canned him and it's just not the same, but I digress...He was a great advocate of both Ag OrgP/L and Cedarcide. Sorry, but we are NOT impressed with the Cedarcide mulch either........and the spary didn't seem to do squat for our Yorkies fleas......

Maybe, just maybe, the AgOrg was too rich, (?)as the plants are very strong and green and vigorous.....not yellowing as Deemy asked, nor do I detect any mites or other critters.....they blossom and then they fall off......(sniff)

 

[Green Co.]

BL, I too, lik the ag/org products, but have never tried it in my tires or raised beds. I filled these with native clay, mixed with dried leaves & some hay. I think I now know how the native peoples made straw brick!!

Because of this mixture, each spring I mix in some more potting soil, and about a cup of gypsum to keep the soil from packing. I usually don't have to fertilize, but with all the rain this year (wife said she heard on the tube, we are 28" over norm) I have begun adding some high nitrogen fertilizer to the row crops, to help them burn off the water.

My second crop of black eyed peas were planted last week-end, sprouting now, but the furrows are completely filled with water after todays deluge. Will probably lose these. Oh well, guess the wife will get re-aquainted with Brookshire Bros this winter.

 

[Todd]

Birdlady,

You might want to consider using blossom set for the tomatoes. It's a spray that you can buy at most nurseries and I'm sure mail order.

You can also just flick the blossoms with your finger to spread the pollen.

We're growing 19 varieties of tomatoes this year as a test to find good juice varieties.

If grasshoppers are a regular/yearly problem, you might want to consider buying some conatiners of milky spore disease to spread around on the ground. (You have to do it over a wide area to be effective.)

Todd

 

[PilotFighter]

If your maters ain't setting fruit, then you need to simply put a tablespoon of Epson salt arond the base of the plants. They need the Magnesium.

 

[Brooks]

The fruit won't set if it has been too wet or damp. It makes for very sluggish pollen. You need 2 or 3 decent days where the nights do not drop below 50F and the days do not exceed 90F. My region was skunked for the first half of the season last year because it was too wet.

For anyone with Brandywines, they have a misformed flower and could use help with the pollination.